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Jacobs and Field

Deli and cafe in Headington

Food and drink

Café

'Grocer...deli...coffee house' with a Waitrose-customer-friendly range of local & ethical meats/fish/cheese/fresh groceries/sandwiches/bread and many other specialities. Also external catering (inc. hamper) service.

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Reviews

I have a great emotional attachment to Jacobs and Field. On arriving in Oxford this was the first restaurant I 'discovered' (searching for brunch destinations in Headington) and quickly came quite attached to it. So it seemed the perfect place to take my parents for a Saturday lunch. It is place that comes with fine, though safe food, with experimentation less important then serving a lovely meal. The staff are always friendly, approachable, and comfortable within the bustling atmosphere. And it is a very welcoming place for a young child, with a décor that fits my daughter's particular interest in mirrors (which surround you on either side of the dining area).

Food is the important thing here and the menu is so wonderfully varied that our party could order brunch, pasta, and pizza. (We resisted salad and burgers.) For brunch we selected Eggs Neptune (poached egg, crab and hollandaise all on sourdough). The eggs were well cooked, the hollandaise sauce one of the nicer examples of its kind and the crab was delicious; the meal coming together well. The only drawback was that more crab was wanted, but I guess this is as much a compliment of the quality of food as it is a drawback. A samphire & crayfish linguine was the special of a day, a perfect choice for a seafood AND pasta addict. In their words it was 'scrummy' and was a well portioned delicious meal. Two of our party had pizza, which has a very good base (stonebaked sourdough will always be a winner for culinary excellence) with generous toppings. There was particular praise for the thick fresh mushrooms on top of the Chorizo pizza. Finally I had the free range chicken jambonette, a tasty dish with some very fine champ mash. I particularly liked the chorizo accompanying the meal and the chicken was cooked to perfection.

The portion sizes are just right to leave room for dessert, meaning all five of us had to have them. There was a 3 to 2 split with the Jacob's sundae (an indulgent mix of ice cream, honeycomb, chocolate brownie and chocolate sauce) proving a particularly popular choice. The rest of our group had the caramel chocolate pot. The sundae was as delicious and decadent as it sounded, complete with a healthy slab of honeycomb on top, while the caramel chocolate pot was heavenly; a thick layer of chocolate above caramel. The only drawback is that it was far too solid to dunk the shortbread biscuit into it, which was rather a missed opportunity.

Jacobs and Field is the jewel in the House of Jacobs' mighty crown. The food was delicious, the service friendly, and the atmosphere of this establishment lovely. Jacobs & Field is a great venue for brunch, lunch and dinner; but a warning: it is a very popular destination at the weekend, so booking is highly advised. A group in front of us couldn't be seated because of the popularity. This shouldn't stop you from visiting this restaurant though, as it is one of the finest places to eat in Headington, and maybe even the whole of Oxford.

I love Jacobs & Field - it's the best thing that's happened to Headington since Waitrose, the Windmill Fair Trade shop and Coco Noir (chocolate). Small - and cramped when full - it may be, but with the scrubbed antique wooden tables and chairs and the vintage culinary paraphernalia cluttering up the place it feels like being squashed into someone's homely farm kitchen rather than being processed by yet another generic food conglomerate. And that's what people go there for - that, and the extremely delicious food.

There's a deli counter with a good selection of high-end meats, cheeses, pies and cakes, plus fresh veg, bread, eggs and other necessary groceries. True, the fresh stuff may be cheaper elsewhere, but if you're a Waitrose customer just popped in on your way past you're not that likely to notice the price differential - and if you're coming here to do your weekly grocery shop you're probably fairly unusual. More than likely something will catch your eye on the way out or in from a tasty lunch, breakfast (served until 6pm daily) or coffee and cakes - all of which are superb. They do a mean mug of hot chocolate; a cheeky square of baklava with it will set you back 60p. The lunch/salads bar has loads of tasty options to suit vegetarians, and the meaties can supplement with a pie, or go for the full English breakfast, or try a generous plate of filling kedgeree if they're feeling fishy. The veggie breakfast is the best I've encountered anywhere for some time, entirely encapsulating what I always hope I might get when I order one. With real baked beans in interesting sauce (ie. they look homemade), wholemeal or white toast, mushroom, tomatoes, egg (cooked how you like it) and a veggie sausage, this is hard to beat - and slightly difficult to finish. Best of all, the stuff on the salads bar is sold by weight - just pile whatever you want on your plate and then get it weighed in at the till.

Though staff are always busily multi-tasking behind the open counter - serving deli customers, cooking/prepping food and serving cafe diners - it never feels rushed, or slow, or anything other than lovely. It's very baby- and child-friendly too - though getting a pushchair through to the back room would be a challenge, and for sunny days there's their teeny street-front seating area to solve that problem.

If I hadn't just moved out of Headington, I'd be there every weekend.

Used to be great, but not so good. I have been a regular at the deli since it opened and used to enjoy my visits there. I looked forward to the extension and refurb as the décor was looking a bit rough.

However I have been back and the new refurb looks tired already, the place looks dirty especially the floor in the kitchen area of the front/original deli. Most importantly the food is pretty poor too.

Last week I ordered a butternut squash, green bean and pomegranate salad. It sounded delicious, but it arrived with a bitter yogurt dressing, no pomegranate and brown lettuce. My friend wanted a sandwich but they only had 2 non vegi options left and they refused to make a vegi alternative for her. The final nail was the over powering smell of the bin which put me completely off my food.

I returned the following week for breakfast which is normally better than the lunches. I ordered scrambled eggs on toast and was served rubber eggs on stale soggy bread. The bread was toasted and the staleness could be tasted even though it was smothered in butter.

I'm not sure I will be heading back.

Smithy3 Mar 2016

Whilst the food continues to be good, I really think they need to improve the decor - both inside and out. It's like they have neglected it since opening the Chop House and the pub. Its outside is full of dead plants and rusty storage (but not in a cool rustic chic kind of way!) and the inside has become a bit of a mess. It is putting people off, they think if you can't keep things fresh and tidy on the outside - what's it like on the inside? Give J&F a face-lift please!

TYG8212 Jan 2015

Went there for lunch - lovely veggie platter for 2. Not cheap, but lovely atmosphere. Bread was lovely, staff friendly. I'm not sure if you could really manage a wheelchair there, as the tables are very close together.

madam W4 Oct 2013

The first time I came here was when I walked up the hill from the city centre to meet a friend. The experience was entirely worth the walk: excellent coffee and my eggs done exactly as I liked them. The decor was nice and homely, and the staff very friendly. I've been there many times since, and discovered the kedgeree that is the crowning glory of their menu. I cannot recommend it highly enough!

Black Mongoose13 Aug 2012

My pregnant daughter and myself visited Jacobs & Field last week, and had a most delicious 'fish platter' for lunch, it was fabulous. Also an enormous and most mouthwatering sausage roll, yummy!! 0rganic cider too ! An amazing venue, very tasteful with lots of bits and bobs around - and a large, wonderful loo, into the bargain.

Friendly staff and an altogether joyful ambience. Can't wait to come to 0xford again, so I can call back...

netta17 Jul 2012

Jacobs and Field is one of the best eateries in the whole of Oxford, so we were excited to be offered (by parents) a Jacobs-and-Field-catered party on the 30th of June. The whole experience from beginning (helpful and efficient advice about ordering etc.) to end (delicious leftovers!) was marvellous. For an exceptionally reasonable price, given the fantastic made-to-order high quality food and a lot of rather classy drinks (both alcoholic and not), a top-notch spread was created and delivered at a time convenient for us on the day - and I've never enjoyed an easier party in my own home! Don't just go there, order your next spread there...

GStickings9 Jul 2012

Jacobs & Field is without doubt the best deli/bistro in Headington. Friendly staff and great food! Highly recommend.

Caroline21 Apr 2012

I visit Jacobs and Field about once a week and I highly recommend it. The food is great (fresh and healthy) and the drinks selection great too, but mostly it's the atmosphere. There isn't anywhere else like it in Oxford to my knowledge, and it's a welcome relief for someone seeking a lunch break refuge. It took me a while to cotton on to it, as it's pretty low key. A lovely, genuine deli.

Unfortunately I agree with the previous reviewer that the popularity of Jacobs & Field is becoming its downfall. The coffee is good, sandwiches nice (but very expensive). Staff seem untrained and service slow. The fresh produce is overpriced and unappetising -- I suspect it's only on sale at all as a sop to the City Council Planning dept (who at one point stipulated that the space must be retail as well as cafe). As there are no other comparable places in Headington, then Jacobs & Field get away with their rather mediocre approach. I fear that if any real competition were to appear in Headington, then Jacobs & Field may struggle. I really hope Jacobs & Field get their act together & focus on improving.

james jones14 Aug 2011

Great place to be. Sat in the sun outside, great salads sold by weight (I had three), along with a great sandwich. Tasty and healthy food - after Starbucks and McDonalds, this place is an oasis! Well done, and keep going Jacobs and Field! You'll need more space - how will you fit all those people in when it's too cold or wet to sit outside?

6 Jul 2011

I've been a loyal follower of Jacobs and Field form the beginning and thoroughly enjoy taking my lunch breaks there. The food is all fantastically fresh and flavorsome and the staff are always smiley and helpful even if it does tend to look frantic when they are busy.It knocks the spots of any other establishment not just in Headington but for most of the city as well!

big rob9 Jun 2011

Got to get this off my chest..!! The middle classes seem so seduced by this 'cosy' muddle (me included) because it's all so nearly like being in a bizarre hybrid of Mediterranean cafes. But how many of those would use the available space so poorly? Overpriced packets of dry food, wooden boxes of decorative overpriced organic veg and faux-rustic indoor seating are crammed into a small space, the cooking area dividing the room into two corridors...Hmm.

The menu is placed so high up it gives you neck crick. The staff are nice enough but slow. The last time I went, the coffee came so late that we were on the point of leaving - and they had forgotten the croissant, which then arrived when the coffee was drunk, by which time we were so cheesed off that it rather spoiled our morning indulgence.

On a previous visit, my take-away sandwich was made from 2 doorsteps filled with bland felafel and salad - perfect size for a rugger player but impossible to fit in my mouth. There seemed to have been no thought given as to how the sandwich might taste either; at £4.60 it was something of a disappointment. Against my better instincts (as the whole point of Jacobs and Field is the premium quality and local/organic nature of their ingredients) I had a Greggs meal deal of egg mayonnaise, crisps and drink in London for £3.00 which tasted better.

The time I took the family to have lunch was an acrobatic performance uncomfortably squeezing onto a wobbly bench, precarious balancing of food and awkwardly avoiding passers by knocking you about.

I've given it three chances - not again.

cyclinggirl31 May 2011

Mixed feelings about J&F - I want to love it, the concept is perfect and the owners are always welcoming and helpful but I think what's happened is it's got too popular and the other (younger) staff they've employed don't have the same passion for their produce.

Their sandwiches are freshly prepared on delicious cut bread and though there is a sandwich menu up on a blackboard you can literally have anything you want from the deli counter in it - just ask. However I was once caught short by choosing a bread which came from a small loaf so got a bit short changed when my £4.50 sandwich was no bigger than my fist!

That said they have some fantastic produce, locally sourced and well cooked. I think their popularity is slowly becoming their downfall - they're just struggling to keep up standards with an increasing number of customers coming through the doors. I hear they're extending soon so hopefully that'll make a currently very small deli easier to manage rather than make it less personal service with slipping quality.

CustardTart15 Mar 2011

My favourite coffee place in the whole of Oxford!

Laura7 Nov 2010

I would recommend telephoning before going. The first afternoon that I went to buy food they were closed because of the World Cup! Then when we went there to have a meal there in the evening, there was a notice on the door saying that they were closed for a private event. I sense that they may be a bit cliquey...The menu always sounds nice, however, and we may try again.

I LOVE this place. Headington was crying out for Jacobs & Field! There is plenty of choice for even the fussiest eater, from salads and sandwiches to hot food & drinks, fresh bread and veg and posh groceries. The ham and mustard sandwich is my favourite - really tasty ham with just the right amount of mustard on freshly cut bread. I have also bought one of their bespoke hampers for a friend's birthday and was so happy I did. The hamper looked amazing and went over very well with my friend, a real treat. For anyone seeking something really top class in Headington, go here, you won't be disappointed.

13 Oct 2010

This place looks pretty nice from the outside: nice little tables on a lovely little terrace; dear little shrubs and a quaint old bicycle, all painted gaily. It really is a little sanctuary for the comfortably off, or the social climber. It could just as easily be called 'Pashmina & Puffa'.

Inside, the place feels a little more normal- quite a big food preparation area dominates the space, but small tables abound, and loads of produce kicking about on various displays that I imagine are an attempt to suggest authenticity. I bought food to take away- a pot of potato salad (dressed with with capers, lemon, basil and, I think, parsley), ratatouille (aubergine, courgette, tomato, and capsicum). I chose these from the salad bar, which presents eight or so similar offerings. None of it was labelled properly, though, and when I asked about sandwiches I was directed to a blackboard that was mounted highly, and was so baffling I quickly jettisoned the idea and went for 2 slices of bread.

The girl who served me was doing her best, but I got the feeling that the place wasn't really terribly well organised. The food itself was nice enough. The ratatouille was very good, the potato salad a bit odd. I also had an espresso just before leaving- the acid test of any place like this, in my opinion. It was not good. The cup was too big, the coffee was cold, there was no cream, and I felt they'd used cheap-tasting beans, which tasted slightly scorched. The whole lot came to £9, which I did not begrudge at all, but I hate to say it: you could get the same food at lower prices elsewhere.

I think these chaps need to scale it back a bit and get a few things spot on. Don't avoid it, just don't get your hopes up.

Food Boy14 Jul 2010

It seemed like a pleasant place for lunch... but I found it overpriced and overrated. The food was certainly not what I had been led to believe by others raving about it. Don't think I'll be returning.

Wow, what a find! Having stumbled across Jacobs and Field a couple of weeks ago after shopping in Waitrose I now use Waitrose as an excuse to visit here! Probably one of the best coffees I've had in Oxford, lovely fresh home cooked food and a laid back home from home atmosphere makes this deli an absolute find!

I now buy deli items and "gourmet" bits from here instead of Waitrose, the staff are all charming and knowledgeable about the products that they are selling, and the hamper I bought the last time I was in was well received as a present for my foodie father!

My only complaint is that it's not on my door step. C'mon J&F, open one in Jericho!

tomtom5 Jul 2010

I've had a couple of disappointing experiences here; have been for coffee four times, and decided (with my friends) not to go back. Basically, had problems with their baked goods; on one occasion we had croissants which were too tough to cut through, and although they swapped them, the staff were rather ungracious ("well, we haven't any more of those, you'll have to have one of these instead"). On another occasion, my husband and I had coffee there and bought a baguette to have for lunch. When we got home we cut it up and found it was stale. Third niggle - given a mug of coffee with a lipstick stain on it. So 3 out of 4 visits, unhappy = not going back.

I agree with the comments about the layout and atmosphere, but we're not prepared to put up with poor food quality - plenty of other coffee shops for us girls to have our Thursday get-together!

Anna22 Jun 2010

Absolutely fabulous, like a home away from home. It's also one of the few places in Oxford where you can sit out in the sun with a good coffee and just take everything in. The decór is well laid out to create an 'at home' atmosphere, perfect for a quiet cuppa and a book or for meeting friends for a chat. The range of products on offer is extensive and there are plenty of interesting goodies that catch your eye! Definitely comes highly recommended!

Laura21 Apr 2010

As someone who doesn't actually like mashed potato, I'd like to recommend the Sausage & Mash. Jacobs & Field know how to treat potatoes. Looking forward to visiting again.

SammieSquirrel11 Apr 2010

Five stars. Really tasty fresh food. A top class independent cafe and shop.

Is.8 Apr 2010

Next to Waitrose--literally and metaphorically-- this is the best thing that has recently happened to Headington. Jacobs and Field is simply wonderful. It is a restaurant, cafe, delicatessen, and sells fresh fruit and veggies as well. My husband and I stop to eat there whenever we can--home-made specialities abound: guacamole, houmous, salads, sausage rolls, bread, cheeses, and main courses--you name it, they have it, and it is all delicious. The two men, and the young lady, who run it are uniformly friendly, professional, and make everyone feel at home.

I had unexpected guests last week, instead of panicking I simply bought some of Jacobs and Field's delicatessen wares, and the guests were impressed, and I relieved.